Lorinna Valley
Album photoIf you follow the (doomsday) prepper philosophy (you know, the ones who plan and train to survive the end of the civilized world), in the event of a pandemic, you must isolate in a place easy to defend and rich in renewable resources (water and food). Tasmania is exactly that [just kidding, we planned to visit the island before the austral winter anyway].
Restrictions are in place to limit the spread of the coronavirus. We are allowed to enter Tasmania as long as we quarantine for 14 days. Never mind, let's do volunteer work! What a great idea : we choose a remote valley with no running water or electricity, the children are homeschooled and the land produces almost enough food to sustain the family. In short, we self-isolate ...
After a long winding road, we reach Lorinna valley, at Marie', Scott' and the teenagers Rosie and Zac's place. Foot shake is the proper greeting, you know, social distancing ... Doesn't matter how small the house is, it's very comfortable and warm, fire roars in the big wood stove : homemade bread and eel, freshly caught in the lake, for lunch (delicious fish by the way!).
There is heaps in the mighty vegetable garden. It's organized in mounds whose purpose is to accumulate more organic matter above the ground (much faster and cheaper than creating raised beds), to retain more water in the soil and to make a clear barrier against weeds. No real vegetarian in the family: there are two dairy cows, a beef cow, an ox, a bull and a few rabbits. The two dogs (Sam and Bibi) and the two cats (Jackie and Annabelle) are fed on wallabies (which proliferated in Tasmania since the disappearance of the tiger).
Work is not all, we laugh a lot around here! We join wild card games (many bad losers at the table), we go for walks and sneek on the picturesque tiny houses of the neighbours and we also take the kayak down to the lake. We go wild with Zac through the visit of the "canyon" of Lorinna and Rosie gives us gymnastics demonstrations. One day, with Marie and Scott, we leave at dawn towards one of their secret places in the middle of a temperate humid forest, we feel like in the jungle (except for the temperatures not that far from 0°C), campfire at noon and "fish and chips" by the sea before heading back. We take advantage of the getaway to walk along some waterfalls that would make New Zealand jealous and we discover that we share a common passion with our hosts: bacon :).
Besides splitting our sides, we perform it on the wood as well. We collect cubic meters of eucalyptus for the winter. The stove is roaring, now that Nanny Brook (Scott's mum) has joined the band. Our quarantine ends and like Jack, we hit the road for other adventures in the south of Tasmania.